Road work in the area of the new Cosumnes River Elementary School turned Wednesday's commutes into slow-motion trips for people traveling Jackson Road between Rancho Murieta and Sacramento.  Things are predicted to be bad Thursday morning too.

A combination of road work that narrowed traffic to one lane and a two-car accident at Jackson and Dillard roads around 8:20 a.m. backed up traffic for miles during the morning rush.  The afternoon drive didn't have accidents to complicate things, but still traffic was s-l-o-w, as Murietans commented here and on Facebook, posting on their cell phones as they sat parked in traffic.

As for Thursday morning, Matt Clark, resident engineer for the road project, predicted another difficult commute.  He said things will improve dramatically once the traffic light at the new Kiefer Boulevard intersection is activated.

"Once the signal's turned on, there won't be any more delays," he said, predicting that will happen between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Thursday.

Late Wednesday afternoon, he reported crews had completed paving in the area and were now striping the road.